An inspiration in true sense......Thanks Sourav
This blog might seem like a cliche to those who would take the effort to read this, since lot of such blogs have come up on the internet as well as in the form of newspaper articles.However this is just a honest appreciation and tribute to one of India's greatest leaders ever.This will be my longest blog ever...and one of my most cherished blogs.....:-)
March 22,2001....a tense battle at the MA Chidambaram stadium...It would not be necessary to mention what was the occasion, but the celebration by the Indian captain on beating the world champions-Australia, is still etched in my memory.It truly symbolized what we call "Fire in the Belly".
Aggressive,street fighter,maverick,flamboyant....Various adjectives have been used to describe a certain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly in the last 13-14 years. Whatever may anybody say, the definition of the word FIGHTER in the Oxford dictionary needs to be changed to Sourav Ganguly. Indian cricket never saw such a persona, such oozing confidence,most of the times infectious to his mates and the cause of opponents' envy.
Whenever he was abandoned, he rose out of the ashes like a Phoenix. When nobody gave him a chance, it made him furthermore determined and his critics just had to watch in awe and surprise.If one had to make a long list of Indian leaders who made the country proud,who fought with valour,courage and pride, it would be a disgrace if Sourav's name would not be in the list.He wore his heart on the sleeve and did not bother to understand what fear meant.Sourav showed us all a new dimension of leadership. The attitude,fearlessness,never-say-die spirit....well let me put an end to all adjectives and begin with my recall of all the things that riveted around the man who was the most talked about in the last 13 years in Indian Cricket.
My first memory of Sourav Ganguly,as most of the people have,definitely is his debut century at Lord's in June 1996.The other debutant who made 95 at the other end,was a now legendary Rahul Dravid ,who aptly made a statement-"On the off side,first there's God,then There's Sourav Ganguly".Magic flowed in his silken smooth strokes,after he made his debut under,again,difficult circumstances.Navjot Singh Sidhu abandoned the England tour under controversial circumstances after a fall out with captain Azharuddin and his place was taken by Sourav.Everyone pointed at it beng a regional selection,rather than on merit.Well, at Trenbridge in the next test match,he proved all people wrong...And this saga of proving people wrong started then......
In 1997,he began opening the innings with Sachin Tendulkar in ODI's and they both went on to torment bowlers all round the world.And in the Sahara cup in the same year,he became a thorn in the Pakistanis' flesh,with 4 successive man-of-the-match awards,shining with both bat and ball.However,for me,the best ODI innings played by Sourav is the 124 he scored at Dhaka vs Pakistan in 1998, when India chased 315 to set a world record for the highest successful chase.In 1999,Sourav acted as stop gap captain for an injured Sachin in the DMC cup in Toronto against the West Indies and led the team to a 2-1 victory.To all those people who thought Sourav was a selfish individual, his comments after this series would make it clear..."When Sachin comes back,we will have a team ready to go for the kill"...
Things did not go as Sourav stated and India slid down both with respect to on-field performances and the off-field controversy of match fixing.Sachin quit as captain with it having affected his batting,and after having followed Indian cricket since the India's tour of South Africa in 1992,as a 7 year old,8 years hence in 2000,my interest in cricket dwindled out of sheer desperation.Never did I think that i would follow cricket again with the same vigour and passion,but the passion grew even more bigger....all thanks to a great new Team India,led by Sourav.
My first memory of his as full time India captain was his worried look at an ODI at Kochi against South Africa, where Herschelle Gibbs was toying with the Indian bowling.But then he was never the one to give up without a fight,and came out with a blistering attack on the SA bowlers,enabling India to clinch a thriller.This might have been written as a one-off win,but Ganguly defied all logic,batted with tremendous aplomb right through the series and won,leading by example.
India's next biggest destination was the ICC Champions trophy in Nairobi,where India surprised Australia and South Africa , only to be denied by a counter-attacking Chris Cairns in the final.India discovered 2 new heroes in the series- Yuvraj Singh,with an 84 on debut against the aussies and well....I can never forget Zaheer Khan clean bowling Steven Waugh in the dying moments of that quarter final.
A new and young India was emerging to challenge the world.Sourav's first assignment as test captain began nightmarishly with Bangladesh scoring 400 in their first ever test.India was however saved the blushes,thanks to a Sunil Joshi all-round effort.
Come March 2001,the whole world was waiting for the Australian juggernaut to trample the Indians and conquer their "Final Frontier".Aussies had won 15 test matches in a row and India were still struggling to come out of their troubled days.Steven Waugh bragged of a whitewash in India,to which Sourav's reply came:"What does he know what's going on here,sitting in Australia??".Never have Indian captains done this before and never will anyone ever.DADA was not gonna be prey to the Aussies.India's greatest match winning bowler, Anil Kumble was out of the series with a shoulder injury and India's spin bowlers were really, nothing but average.It was here when Captain Sourav fought for a certain Harbhajan Singh to be included in the team ahead of many other contenders.What was to follow was an epic of a series,the best I have ever seen in my lifetime,with India clinching the series thanks to a mammoth turn around by the VVS Laxman-Rahul Dravid duo at Kolkata after following on,and Harbhajan pickcing up 32 aussie wickets,including a hat-trick as well.
India mentally won this series,and not only was it on the field.Sourav did not allow the aussies to get under his skin, rather he got under Steve Waugh's skin,who at Chennai,got out handling the ball.
The way I followed Indian cricket now began to take different dimension after this series.This series led to India's best ever batting middle order to get established in Dravid,Sachin,Sourav and Laxman.Harbhajan Singh became a bowler for the future and most of all, India now making the Australians get the feeling of losing a test match and a test series.
Well...for a short moment i got carried away with the 2001 epic series,without noticing that the blog was meant to be wriiten on Sourav.The same also happened with Sourav's batting.As the Times of India aptly put it,he was the "Robin Hood of his mavericks" around,taking all the brickbats from all corners while making his team grow from strength to strength.India was now HIS team,not to forget how equally it was John Wright's.John worked on the background with the player's skills and Sourav acted the motivator.
In 2001 in South Africa,Sourav promoted a certain Virender Sehwag to open the innings at Bloemfontein,who scored a hundred on debut.The rest as all know is history.Sourav faced his first biggest test in the series with the Mike Denness controversy,which he handled with aplomb and let the world know that India would not succumb to anything like that.India beat the SriLankans in Kandy in 2002,where the team was without Sachin and Laxman.From here India began to show that we are not meek travellers.A win in Port of Spain in 2002,to go ahead in the series in the carribean,was only floundered by losses at Barbados and Jamaica.Then came one of the biggest series of all,which really kick started India's rise back on the cricketing ladder.The Natwest triumph brought about by 2 new kids on the block,Yuvraj-Kaif,leading to a bare-chest act on the hallowed Lord's balcony by DADA and the drawn test series which heralded the greatness of Rahul Dravid was only an indication of things to come.
Well, this is supposed to be a tribute to Sourav, but all i have written so far is about Team India.That is what it actually was!! A tribute to how he made India believe that overseas tours are not only for sight-seeing!!! You've got to go and win test matches abroad.In the midst of these important victories,there was a huge decision Sourav had to make,and it was keeoing Anil Kumble out of the playing eleven in overseas Test cricket.It was really difficult to comprehend for everyone,but Sourav had his way.It had nothing to do with Kumble's performance,but it was to do with the theory of playing 3 fast bowlers and an in-form Harbhajan Singh.And Sourav also admitted recently in a TV interview that it was the most difficult decision he ever took in his career.
Then came the season 2003-2004....My favourite season in Indian cricket for various reasons.India got a serious drubbing in New Zealand and everyone had written off the Indian team,when it came to the ICC World Cup in South Africa.After scratching to beat Holland,the Aussies humiliated the Indians at Centurion.It was now that the fans back home burnt effigies and the captain was the main target.Sourav showed extreme resolve and held the team together,led from the front,inspired the youngsters,Zaheer and Nehra, Srinath delivered outstandingly and the batting held forte with Sachin leading the pack.
England,Pakistan,Newzealand,Sri Lanka all were knocked off and only the Aussies were now reamaining to be defeated.On March 23,2003 as all India waited with breathlessness, the nerves got the better of the team and a certain Ricardo Ponting took the World cup down under once again.SOURAV had took his team to the World cup finals and it was only the 2nd time in Indian history.Sourav's thinking rubbed off on the team...the ability to rise out of the ashes and show the world what you are capable of....
As the season ended,India had to travel to Australia with an attempt to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.Any Indian team travelling down under was labelled as mere tourists, and the prediction this tiem was a 4-0 whitewash for India.This after India struggled against the Kiwis at home and were beaten by Australia in the TVS cup.I was extremely apprehensive of India doing well in Australia,and was not liking the idea of watching cricket live early in the morning from 5.30 AM,with the mindset that India will not fare well.Well....Sourav Ganguly showed what guts and determination meant with his scintillating 144 at Brisbane,which for me was the turning point of the series,MENTALLY.
When India won historically at Adelaide,with heroics from Dravid,Laxman,Kumble and a certain Ajit Agarkar ,Sourav's celebration was a calm and composed, clap of hands as he walked out to congratulate Dravid and Agarkar on the field.The look on his face said " I told you so....!!".The next moment of the series came when he walked out at the fag end of day 1,ahead of Sachin,who was struggling for form at Melbourne and took some blows on his helmet.Earlier Indian captains would have sent a nightwatchman....But not Sourav....He liked to fight it out in the middle....Although India failed to seal the series at Sydney,they showed all the world that Aussies are not unbeatable....Rahul Dravid was the man of the series...YES...but for me it was Sourav...he set it up at Brisbane and the other followed suit....
This was followed by a first time series win in Pakistan,both in Tests and ODI's.All this amidst pressures of all that is associated with the environment in Pakistan.
However after this,things were to change....India lost to Australia in India,and Sourav was criticised from all corners for sitting out of the Nagpur test,citing an injury.Pakistan came to India,saved the Mohali test and lost at Kolkata.However India managed to lose the bangalore test and the way Sourav got out to Afridi on the 5th day there,made me think....is it the end of all this glory of 4 years?? India also lost the ODI series 4-2, after being 2-0 up.John Wright's tenure came to an end,and with that the end of a successful combo that took Indian cricket miles ahead.
The next Indian coach was backed by Sourav, and he was none other than Greg Chappell,who was in a way instrumental in Sourav's 144 at Brisbane.However in a span of 6 months things started going downhill and the relationship between them soured due to various reasons.Sourav was struggling for runs and a dogged hundred against minnows Zimbabwe was not meritorious enough for the people who mattered.
This is where things hit him badly and unfairly....He backed Rahul Dravid when he was going through a lean patch in 2000-01,he backed Sachin in West Indies and Australia,He backed Laxman when he was the target always by the selectors....Now he was left unsupported and in solitude...
I have always looked up to my parents when it came to learning lessons and how to go about various things in life.Further my teachers and friends have influenced me in various other ways.Apart from this,if there was anyone whom i always admired,it has to be Sourav Ganguly.Most of the times,i tend to go by instinct and this was learnt by me from the way Sourav exhibited himself.I also took a leaf out of his book when it came to another aspect.That is, "You always support and appreciate people when they do well, but it matters more than anything else,when you support the same people in time of distress"....I have taken lot of flak from most of my friends for supporting Sourav when he was getting support from nowhere....I was taken to be joking when i said that he would come back into the team with a bang.Everyone thought he did not deserve to play for India.Moreover,they all labeled him selfish,stubborn and what not!!!And in a matter of few days,all forgot what he had done for Indian cricket all these years. Well....if an engineering student scores a 60 percent in a semester after getting 80 plus till then,does he become useless and unworthy overnight??? This was the same situation that Sourav was in.....
Sourav went back to domestic cricket,county cricket....slugged it out at unknown venues and showed the hunger to fight back.
And one fine day,in Johannesburg , the same old Sourav of Lord's surfaced and had all his critics running for cover and gasping for breath.India defeated South Africa for the first time ever in a test match in South Africa and my joy knew no bounds.I was extremely happy for him and for myself, for DADA had proved me right !!!!
Again he was dropped in Pakistan, for unknown reasons,despite scoring runs and this was extremely frustrating.However once the World Cup debacle got over in the Carribean in 2007, Greg Chappell was ousted and with that ended the dark days of Indian cricket.Sourav kept scoring runs, played superbly in England,where India won a series after more than 20 years.Rahul Dravid resigned from captaincy post this series and Anil Kumble took over the reigns.
It was in December 2007,that Pakistan came to India.Sourav scored a hundered at Eden Gardens,his first at his home ground.So the expectation was more at Bangalore,the venue for the 3rd test.I had never watched a test match Live at the stadium and i wanted to go this time to watch India v Pakistan.India were 69-4 on day 1 at Lunch,and it was Sourav and Yuvraj at the crease.I was wondering whether it would end as a nightmare day watching India paly below par.But it turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my life.Sourav scored a hundred and watching it live was really a dream for me.Not to forget Yuvraj's belligerent hundred.Sourav went on to score his first and only double hundred the next day and it was an extremely cherishable moment for me.I shall never forget December 8th 2007...the day i watched my hero perform valiantly.
India were supposed to tour Australia in early 2008 and i had this bet with one of my dearest buddies,that he would score atleast one test hundred on the tour.I was extremely disappointed when i lost the bet as Sourav could not manage one,although he came close in the acrimonious Sydney test.However he batted fluently throughout the series with confidence.The bombshell came at the end of the test series when he was dropped for the ODI series and this was extremely disappointing when he was the highest run scorer in ODI's for India in 2007.But it was also true that he would not go on to play the 2011 World cup and hence the decision looked logical with a futuristic sense.
He continued to play well in tests,scoring a match winning 87 on a dustbowl at Kanpur vs South Africa.
Then came the SriLanka series in July 2008,where Indian batting looked all at sea against Mendis and Muralitharan.
Sourav was the scape goat again and was dropped for the Irani trophy game.Everyone predicted the end of the road for Sourav,but i still felt he still had a year to go.A world ranking of No.1 for Team India was what i expected when Sourav would retire.Krish Srikkanth handed Sourav a lifeline and picked him for the Australia series in October 2008. I felt somewhere inside me,that Sourav would have his swansong in the series...It was Australia and the last test was at Nagpur....the same venue which haunted him in 2004.The same old foe whose skin he got under and what more than signing off with a win against Australia.I renewed my bet with the same buddy of mine,of Sourav scoring a hundred in the series.And barely 2 days after this, came the news that Surav had retired. It was extremely shocking and difficult to digest at first.But i expected a drubbing for Australia(Refer to my pervious blog)....All this for Sourav....
He proved me right once again...a match winning hundred at Mohali and a series win at Nagpur.
The image of Mahendra Dhoni asking Sourav to lead the team for one last time before he left was extremely touching.
Finally the moment had arrived...India beat Aussies 2-0 and one of the greatest chapters in the history of World Cricket had come to an end.
This is an image i would never forget...Sourav being carried for a lap of honour fittingly by Laxman and Harbhajan..one who changed the fate of Sourav's captaincy and another who was one of Sourav's biggest contribution to Indian cricket.
Finally....I still could have written lots and lots on Sourav...Well,he will always remain in the minds and hearts of all the people......even those who "Hated to love him and Loved to hate him"....
Indian Cricket will dearly miss you Sourav....There can never ever be another Sourav Ganguly.!!!
